This is where I write stuff.

Month: June 2015

I’d planned to write a different blog, one focusing on organic gardening, family and generational ties, but forget it. Today, there’s no other topic than the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Like so many other fans, I didn’t wake up this morning brokenhearted. There wasn’t a bruising disappointment to try and make sense of. For once, there was joy and lightness—a rarity when you’re from a town whose sports teams’ failings have been famously reduced to one-liners. Today is different. This moment feels different. But the thing of it is just that, this is just a moment.

Don’t get me wrong, describing last night as simply a moment doesn’t dismiss the Cavs’ herculean play, or their stubborn grit that proved winning—not at all. It was a moment, yes, but there is strength in the moment, power even. One beautiful, fantastical moment can beget another, then another. Moment by moment, breath by breath, quarter by quarter, that’s how the Cavs have to play. That’s how we as fans have to watch and believe. Does that sound like some New Age blather? To some, perhaps it does. But where we’re standing right now is that murky area of sports fandom where the metaphysical not only sounds right, it feels real. And, I posit, there’s truth to it. If you look back at what LeBron has been talking about all season long, he’s always emphasized the moment. The moment of this team, of Cleveland. The moment and its potential was the basis for that famous Nike ad.

One sparkling moment, then another one that’s even brighter, then another after that, that’s what you call magic. And for those moments to link together into something big and joyous, for the three-pointers to swish in so sweetly they make your teeth ache, for the passing to flow as effectively as a river, for the basket to keep swallowing shot after shot after shot…we need to have faith. We need to believe in those little blips of time and stay present in them to create the opportunity for more.

There’s a reason people have taken to calling my hometown Believeland. It’s time to live up to that moniker, players and fans alike. Because collectively, we can make the best moment of all.